Novel
Avala Is Falling
Пада Авала
Biljana Jovanović · 1978
Synopsis
Belgrade, in the seventies. Jelena Belovuk, a young flautist, stands up to everything that parents, teachers, doctors and bus drivers expect of her, in a shaky family and a city where tired socialism gets along well with patriarchal mores. She tells of her days, her loves and her disgusts without order or measure, following the course of her thoughts, and the title, the prophecy of a popular song, announces the fall of Avala, the hill that overlooks the city.
Context
The novel was published by Prosveta in 1978, a year after a first collection of verse, and was reissued in 1981 by an independent publisher. Official criticism did not know what to make of it, and it was classed among the “jeans prose”, a label that helped make it a cult book. It brought into Yugoslav prose the voice of a young woman who spoke frankly about sexuality and revolt. Since 2006 the Serbian Literary Society has awarded a prize bearing the author's name.
Who it is for
A short novel, written as a stream of consciousness, that changes subject in the middle of a sentence. It helps to know that Avala bears both national monuments and a large psychiatric hospital.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as one of the best first novels in modern Serbian literature, it became a cult book and was translated into English in 2020.